Pittsburgh Penguins Around the Web: Must Reads for 9/11
By Mike Necciai
The Pittsburgh Penguins kick off their rookie tournament in London, Ontario later today and training camp officially begins next week. With hockey season fast approaching, it’s important that we help keep you in the loop with all things Pens from the around the web.
Of course, we’ll start with our recent piece on why Cody Franson signing in Buffalo highlights a big miss for Pittsburgh this summer. The big miss isn’t necessarily not signing Franson, as there were other options available. The big miss was not buying out Rob Scuderi in order to put themselves in a position to add a valuable defenseman to this young blue line group.
Breaking Down NHL Team Trends: Metropolitan Division
Using a bit of analytics, the folks at Todays Slapshot look at how each team in the Metro trend in terms of scoring contributions from their offense and defense. It’s an interesting look at how much a team’s defensemen contribute on the score sheet and like they say, the production for Pittsburgh’s offense should see a decent boost with the addition of Phil Kessel
Flyers Fans are Attempting to Buy the Pittsburgh Penguins
I’m sure you’ve already heard of the GoFundMe campaign that Flyers fans have started in order to purchase the Pittsburgh Penguins. Well, the above link is perspective from a Washington Capitals website. I have to admit, it’s all extremely entertaining. Especially the below comment.
"• Worst Case: Penguins & Flyers merge to become some hideous mélange–a grotesque, unholy ur-beast that wins the next 6 straight Cups. All the other teams in the Eastern Conference threaten to leave the NHL in protest, but Bettman–spineless shill that he is–is powerless to do anything about it. Hockey As We Know It comes to an ignominious end, followed shortly thereafter by the collapse of the known universe."
The GoFundMe is currently at $1,893.00. Not quite the $750 million that is being asked but maybe they’ll be willing to bargain?
Finally Healthy, Biggs Looking for Role With Penguins
You may remember when I wrote about Biggs a few months back, citing him as an underrated part of the Kessel deal due to his potential. The thing is, he’s a former first-round pick with all of the physical assets to be a good fourth-line forward. My expectations of him aren’t high but if he can turn things around in Pittsburgh and fill in when needed in the bottom-six, that’s yet another win for the Pens in the Kessel trade.
Roberts Working to Improve Penguins’ Health Through Diet, Fitness
The quotes in this article are classic Gary Roberts. The Pens have faced injury issues for far too long and revamping their training/medical staffs was a must this offseason. Will this be the answer to those issues? There’s no way to know. But, at least the team is trying to correct it and having Roberts on board is obviously a huge boost in that regard.
NHL Rookie Tournaments Viewers Guide
The Pittsburgh Penguins open the rookie tournament in London, Ontario at 4 o’clock today. This is a guide to rosters and players to watch for all teams that are partaking in the many different tournaments. Also, along those same lines, if you’re able to watch at 4 o’clock today…
Looking for coverage of the #Pens rookie tourney? We’ll be live streaming games on our website and our app. Details: http://t.co/pHPTPCrkHa
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) September 11, 2015
It isn’t quite NHL action but it is hockey in September. And, getting a glimpse at Derrick Pouliot and Oskar Sundqvist should be intriguing, as well as names like Bryan Rust, Scott Wilson, Conor Sheary and of course, Daniel Sprong. On Sunday evening the Pens will battle Toronto’s prospects, which means playing against Kasperi Kapanen.
Next: Camp Questions: Which Prospect Makes the NHL Roster?